


Member of the Wedding

by entirely_too_tall



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: (not in the bedroom you heathens), M/M, Multi, What a beautiful wedding, but this is a polyam fest, except look tater isnt marrying the love of his life, happyish, jack is marrying bitty, so you best believe this is a happy story, tater is best man, there's angst, there's love, there's pie, there's sex, there's tears in his eyes, they're at a wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-02 22:42:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16796125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entirely_too_tall/pseuds/entirely_too_tall
Summary: Of all the ways he imagined his future with Jack Zimmermann, Alexei did not expect one where he would be at Jack’s wedding as Best Man, watching the love of his life slow dancing to Halo with the love ofhislife for their first dance.





	Member of the Wedding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dellessa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dellessa/gifts).



> I got my assignment and I thought about it and had this whole story planned out but didn't have time to finish it so I panicked and was like how do I salvage this, and then Carson McCullers comes to my rescue with a very evocative title which I stole. Sometimes, a title writes its story. 
> 
> I promise this is a happy(ish?) story.
> 
> Someday I'd really like to finish the longer fic, but who knows, I sure don't.
> 
> Biggest shoutout to the clutchest beta, the star brighter than the light pollution to shine down on me, the one and only Denois!
> 
> Check Please and its characters belong to Ngozi, I am only expanding upon it for our collective non-commercial pleasure.

Of all the ways he imagined his future with Jack Zimmermann, Alexei did not expect one where he would be at Jack’s wedding as Best Man, watching the love of his life slow dancing to Halo with the love of _his_ life for their first dance.

Of course he agreed to be Best Man, he would have agreed to anything to be a member of the wedding. But Best Man was as best as he could get, in fact it was much better than what he had expected, which was a seat at the “Falconer Friends” table. Everyone was surprised that the position wasn’t given to Shitty, until they learned that Bitty requested Shitty to be _his_ Best Man first, and then it was universally agreed that Alexei was the man most suited for the job. The best man, one could say.

He said as much at the Best Man speech, sitting at the long table next to the newlyweds, and got some groans and some laughs. Within only three short years that they had known each other, and Alexei could confidently say, to the combined Zimmermann-Bittle family-and-friends audience no less, that he knew Jack so well that he could read Jack’s mood through his PB&J to chicken tender consumption ratio, like how lovers do. That got a lot of laughs, that one. 

“I cannot marry Zimmboni, but at least my money buy me good stand-up classes in Boston.” Uproarious laughter. Comedy and tragedy are but a thin line directing attention to mirth or melancholy.

The mics were passed around for other speeches, and while Alexei listened, he also could not help noticing that Bitty was tucked into Jack’s side, their chairs scooted closer to each other and leaving a considerable gap between their Best Men. It was cute, and they looked really good together, he had to admit that. No matter how much he wanted to put his arm around Jack too, he could not do it here, in front of everyone they knew, and ruin this scene. 

On the other hand, Jack was manspreading wide under the table, enough to let Alexei’s ankle rest innocently against Jack’s. And maybe some stretching would let their calves touch, two lines of heat shared with each other. That would be enough for now.

For now lasted just long enough before Alexei could do something stupid and drastic, until Jack and Bitty rose to do their mother-son dances together. It was cute, the mothers were both wearing flower crowns that were passed on to the sons after the dance, who kept wearing them through the father-son dance until the crowns were tossed in lieu of a bouquet. Alexei was pretty sure one of them were tossed in his direction just to make him and Shitty fight over it. He put up a minimal effort to hold it out of reach but let Shitty scale him for it just because it was funny for the guests, and it even made Jack laugh. That’s always a bonus.

Shitty dragged him down to the dance floor to have the Best Man dance, proudly wearing his flower crown. Not with each other, well, yes with each other, but after with the grooms first. Which meant that Alexei was dancing with Jack. With all the attention paid to Shitty practically throwing Bitty around and being yelled at to “behave yourself and dance nicely, Mr Knight you buffoon!”, Alexei got to have a slow, mostly swaying dance with Jack while chuckling at the other pair. It was nice, honestly it was, because nobody was looking too closely to see his hand be too far down Jack’s waist, and he got to lean into Jack a lot. It was a good excuse as any to hold himself flush against Jack, and Alexei was not going to let it go to waste. 

Much too soon, it had to end, and Alexei was passed on to Bitty, and then Shitty, which were both energetically fun in different ways. Both Ransom and Holster, and also Snowy and Ghost stepped in to dance with him too, and Alexei had a good time. He considered the logistics of two men inviting their male teammates to a wedding skewing the gender balance on the dancefloor, and decided that must be the reason there were so few women present to dance with. Not that he was looking forward to dancing with any woman, or anyone else for that matter. 

At some point, the grooms moved on to cut the wedding cake, and Bitty made a production of “allowing” certain friends (“scorned potential groomsmen!” as Holster put it) to cut the multitude of pies that were inevitably present. They didn’t have _any_ groomsmen, actually, only Shitty and Alexei himself as Best Men, just to avoid accusations of favoritism, though it would seem the plan was failing as Holster and Dex argued over who should get to cut the blueberry pie. Turns out, that was successfully pre-empted as well: there were two blueberry pies, and enough of each flavor for all of their close friends to cut their favorite pie. 

Having sorted out the riffraff, Bitty waved Alexei over and steered him towards a kulebyaka, which was not a dessert, but professional athletes will eat just about anything. During Bitty’s senior winter break, when he found out that Alexei missed his Christmas food (Russian Christmas, in January), Bitty had made it a mission to learn as many Russian baked dishes as he could, starting with the kulebyaka. It was Alexei’s favorite, only served on special occasions like reunion dinners at Christmas and weddings. 

Like now. Bitty took the time out of the hectic wedding preparations to make him a kulebyaka, an attention intensive process of cooking multiple ingredients separately and layering them together, just to let him cut it, at Jack’s wedding. Who would fault Jack for marrying the sweetest, most thoughtful person in the world? Who would begrudge it? Alexei certainly couldn’t. 

He cut himself a large chunk of a slice (knowing the other Russians, they would destroy it and have none left for seconds) and picked up various other tasty pickings before returning to his seat. On a plate waiting for him was a slice of blueberry pie, and Holster looked over from serving Bad Bob a slice a ways down, calling out, “You want that one, right? I was told blueberry is your favorite too.” That was thoughtful, so Alexei replied, “Yes, thank you! Should be everyone’s favorite, so good!”

Surveying the whole reception while he savored his desserts, he tried to pay attention to what the Falconers were up to: Marty and Thirdy and their wives corralling their respective children to behave, Snowy and Poots and Ghost awkward dancing with Ransom and Holster, George talking up a storm with Lardo and Ford. Mostly, though, Alexei’s eyes kept being drawn towards the newlyweds, smiling and milling about, catching up with their guests, relishing in being congratulated for their love. 

It would be too much to bear, if he weren’t still eating, but the food stayed him to his corner. Alexei lounged around in his seat once he was done, but having eaten his excuse to evade participation, he let himself be herded into some perfunctory rounds of hugging and smiling for various combinations of group photos. 

His mind was elsewhere, though. Specifically, within a certain hotel room where a certain pair of newlyweds were probably stripping each other down while kissing each other to asphyxiation, and then he had to stop himself because he did not want to get a hard-on thinking about it in front of all of their friends and family. It’s not something he wanted to explain.

Instead, he opted to peel off from the crowd to snag some last minute food off the buffet table as it was being packed up. He was not alone, several women from Bitty’s family were packing food into their handbags and not bothering to be subtle about it, so he knew that he had no reason for shame for his attempt to minimize food waste. Plus, they were convenient alibis for his absence from the main crowd. 

Alexei smiled and made small talk with one of them, commenting on what a pity it would be to let such good food be thrown out, and then excusing himself to eat but sneaking out of the ballroom instead. He didn’t want to get caught, so instead of taking the elevator he took the stairs up to his own room. 

The food was a ruse. He wanted to eat it sure, it’ll keep till the morning in the minifridge, but what he really wanted to do was to slide his hand down his pants. What he really wanted was getting his dick hard and getting it wet. He wanted Jack so badly, and now when most of the party was still going on, he had his chance.

Jack kissing Bitty, Jack naked and being kissed by Bitty, Jack being worked open by Bitty, it was all he could think about now that he was in the privacy of his own room. Which was opposite Jack and Bitty’s room, right across the hall. They were almost definitely doing these exact things at that exact moment. Just thinking about it already got him hard as he stripped to change into sweatpants and a soft t-shirt. 

Then, checking to see that nobody was in the hallway to see his dick straining against his sweats, he quickly stepped out and across to knock on the door. Near instantly, it opened and a hand yanked him in as the door slammed behind him. Righting himself from the stumble, Alexei found himself being glared at by a very naked and very aroused Bitty.

“What were you doing all night?” Bitty asked with a clipped tone of annoyance.

“What?” Alexei replied placatingly, not willing to provoke Bitty.

Bitty’s hand reached out to yank Alexei towards the bed where an also very naked and also very aroused Jack was sprawled.

“You’re late! What took you so long?” Jack asked, nearly whining.

“I had half a mind to start without you, but Jack wanted to wait,” Bitty said.

“Sorry, had hard time getting away,” Alexei said, grinning while climbing into the bed.

“Well get naked quick so we can start. We’ve both had three fingers up each and I can only take so much kissing and fingering and — put me down! Just because we’re married doesn’t mean you get to manhandle me, Mr. Zimmermann!” 

Jack had gotten off the bed to pick Bitty up in a fireman lift while Alexei stripped again and lubed up while sprawled on the bed, his thin layer of decency for the two seconds in the hallway quickly abandoned.

“Oh, I’m still Mr. Zimmermann? I thought I was going to be Mr. Bittle now? Are we getting divorced already?” Jack teased, as he slowly lowered Bitty onto his dick while standing upright, displaying the most impressive feat of body strength that Alexei had seen.

“No, Mr. Bittle, you’re mine now,” Bitty gasped, wrapping his legs around Jack. 

Once Bitty was settled onto Jack, he climbed onto the bed to stand over Alexei and lower himself into a squat, letting Alexei guide him down lower onto Alexei’s dick. Who knew that Jack was so creative in showing off his body like that? This wasn’t the position they planned, but Alexei found it extremely hot.

Sometimes, Bitty would ride Jack and Alexei would fuck him while he laid on his back, and it was rare that Jack would want to be the active one when they employed this position. He looked so elated doing it tonight, though, so Alexei and Bitty both let Jack do what he wanted. The best thing was, with Bitty laid on top of Alexei while Jack both rode him and fucked Bitty, he didn’t have to worry about crushing little Bitty. Of course, he also couldn’t resist thrusting up into Jack in time to Jack’s own grinding hips, and he felt an erotic pride when at one point he managed to lift all of them off the bed with a hard thrust, getting Jack to shout and shudder. 

Not to be outdone, Jack leaned forward to eat the grin off Alexei’s face with a growling kiss, speeding up his pace. Alexei kissed back just as fiercely while Bitty nibbled on Jack’s ear, staking his own claim on Jack. 

As they rocked together, Jack moaned into Alexei’s mouth and bared his neck for Bitty, who truly had a talent and relish for using his teeth and was apparently attempting to create a necklace of hickeys. That, in turn, elicited a carnal growl from Jack, animal instinct taking over as his hips sped up its pounding, no care except the intent to bring them all over the edge.

Bitty was the first to go, triggering a chain reaction as his ass tightened around Jack, who in turn shuddered and squeezed so hard around Alexei that he had to bite into Jack’s shoulder to keep from yelling out. He still had to make sure people in the rooms next door didn’t hear him in there. 

As they laid there, Alexei thought their heaving breaths sounded like a three-part harmony. It made Alexei feel that it should always be this way. Not the position, or the sex in general. Their lives. Their lives could be a three-part harmony, and he wanted it. He wanted to live under the same roof as them both. To come home and have dinners together. To go out or stay in together. He wanted it all.

But he couldn’t. So he’d take what he can get.

He started making moves to get up under the pile and return surreptitiously to his room, but Jack just laid even more of his weight onto them. 

“Ack! Jack Laurent Zimmermann-Bittle, I’m still under here!” 

An indignant squawk from Bitty prompted some chuckles and readjustment, but instead of everyone getting off, Jack and Bitty simply rearranged themselves to both laying on Alexei and pinning him to the bed still. 

“I should go,” Alexei told them, only to have Jack nuzzling into Alexei’s chest and pressing gentle flutters of kisses wherever he could.

“You can stay, sweetie,” Bitty said, gently raking through Alexei’s hair with his hand. “We want you to stay. We want you here with us.”

_But I can’t. This isn’t something I can have._

Alexei couldn’t say it out loud, because words have the power to make things real, and he didn’t know which reality he’d fall into if he said them. He could challenge the world, or he could be proven right in all the worst ways.

“When you’re ready,” Jack whispered into a kiss on his lips, soothing and patient. 

Alexei may never be ready, but he knew that he would have Jack and Bitty in his corner, having his back. He would have their patience, their kindness, their love. If not the grand gestures, at least he would have the little things.

_“I’ll ask Shitty to be my best man, so that you can be Jack’s, Tater.”_

_“We’ll say there’s gonna be a best man dance, so we can have our dance too, eh bud?”_

_Bitty teaching Jack and Alexei how to mold and carve vines and leaves for the pie and kulebyaka decorations the day before the wedding._

_Bitty and Jack, brushing close by to whisper “we’ll wait” before winking and stealing away to their room during the photos._

_Jack and Bitty turning to catch Alexei’s eye and smile, when making their way in between guests._

_Alexei and Jack holding each other close at the waist on the dance floor, smiling and laughing together, an occasional nuzzle surreptitiously here, a responding caress there._

_Jack letting his legs fall wide at the table, resting his hand on Alexei’s thigh and squeezing once before pushing himself up to stand for the dance._

_Jack brushing his whole hand against Alexei’s when scooping up the ring, a soft sigh just for him._

_Jack pulling Alexei into his arms before they stepped onto the altar, breathing deep into each other’s embrace._

_Jack in his dressing room before heading out, cupping Alexei’s face, thumb brushing away a tear, whispering into a kiss on his lips, soothing and patient, “We’ll have this too, when you’re ready.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> *does an awkward youtube endscreen* Please like, comment, and/or subscribe!


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